EricR

I forgot that you couldn't rewind on the new and improved Network, so I missed Sheamus/Ricochet and Asuka/Ripley/Charlotte. I'll go back and pick those up later. I came in time for the Mysterios/Dawgs tag and loved it. Awesome tag and a great classic Rey performance. Ziggler/Roode are really good in this tag team. https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2021/05/wwe-backlash-running-late-blog-51621.html

Finlay is one of the few guys who have spent time as my #1 favorite wrestler, and his German stuff is my least favorite. There's a lot I haven't seen and I need to cover more as it's available. His WCW runs and his surprise WWF comeback were my favorite eras. I'm especially nostalgic for his WWF run as he went from a man who retired from injury and was already old, who then came back to be the #1 in ring guy in the biggest fed. I got to see several live Finlay matches from that run, felt like I was living my best life.

Women's tag was fun but went on pass their mark. The rest has not been great. But the matches I'm most interested in haven't happened yet so there's still recovery time. https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2021/04/wrestlemania-37-night-two-41121.html

As with TakeOver, Night One looks way better on paper. I'm excited for Banks/Belair, the debut of Omos, seeing if Bad Bunny punches Miz in the face again (plus I always get excited for a celebrity wrestling their first match), Drew/Lashley could deliver big. I'd love to see the Riott Squad challenge for the tag titles, but it would be fun to see Billie Kay on both shows.

That was a terrible night of wrestling. It's like they took all the best things about 2021 NXT TV, threw it out, and went back to all the shiftiness of 2020 NXT.

It's not a live blog, since I'm on the west coast and everyone saw TakeOver before me, but I'm still writing it up as I watch it: https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2021/04/nxt-takeover-stand-and-deliver-night.html Dunne/Kushida and the gauntlet match were terrible, but I thought WALTER/Ciampa was awesome. Ciampa is having a great year.

I didn't want to fiddle around with Peacock so wasn't going to watch Fastlane, but then Phil told me it was still on the Network. Whoops. Still watching it all but with a late start. https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2021/03/wwe-fastlane-i-didnt-know-if-i-had.html

I thought the main event was the only worthwhile thing on the show, but it was very good. I thought the Sheamus/Drew showdown was a good payoff, but thought everyone brought something of value. Way better than the first chamber match of the night, which felt laid out by a "Modern WWE" algorithm.

Chamber matches seem to have the highest floor for WWE gimmick matches over the past decade, so this should be a good show. I'm doing a live blog, pre-show 4 way was no good but they should use the pre-show angle of that match getting someone on the main card more often: https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2021/02/wwe-elimination-chamber-22121-not-quite.html

I thought this was a very poor show. The tag title match was bad, the women's rumble had a good result but was badly laid out, banks match is below her usual level, Roman match took forever, and the men's match was mostly boring. Riddle vs. Bryan crossing paths for the first time ever was a real highlight, and I want to see Bryan have a match with him like the ones Bryan had with Gulak. I've been watching older Rumbles that I've either never seen, or hadn't seen in ages, and they are so much better filled.

I was not into that women's rumble. I love the result of Bianca winning, but felt the booking and layout of the match itself was really bad. I hate everyone coming into the match running through their offense like it was just a tag match. Too many important eliminations felt completely tossed off.

Doing a Rumble live blog, thought the women's tag on the pre-show was terrible. Usually the pre-show matches deliver a lot better than that. https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2021/01/wwe-royal-rumble-2021-live-blog.html

I was not a fan of Dar on 205 Live, was shocked at how much I have enjoyed him on NXT UK. Feels like a totally different worker, way more confident in exactly what he brings. Through the first 25 episodes I had him ranked #4, and it would have been higher had he had more than two matches during the ranking period. I'm trying not to look ahead at episodes, but I hope he is featured more.

Added a couple more matches to my NXT UK Matches Worth Watching list, still really enjoying the pacing of the shows. It really feels like the strongest WWE show, which is why I started this project in the first place. Noam Dar vs. Jordan Devlin NXT UK 1/25 (Aired 2/13/19) (Ep. #29) ER: Dar turned in two great performances in the first three weeks of NXT UK, and then disappeared for nearly four months. This is his first match in 26 episodes, and he didn't miss a single beat. I had both Devlin and Dar in my Top 5 through my first ranking period (1st and 4th respectively) and it's always exciting when two of the very best match up. So I had high expectations, and they easily met them. This is one of the few hardest hitting matches we've seen on UK, and Dar put on this great Monty Python knight performance as Devlin kept working over different parts of Dar's body. Dar does World of Sport style trick spots better than anyone on the brand, and I really liked his Phillie Phanatic tabletop trip after elbowing Devlin into the ropes, and Devlin was great at playing into that and the spinning backslide. Once Devlin stops playing around, he unleashes some hellish kicks on Dar, going after his leg, working over his arm, and kicking him incredibly hard in the ribs while Dar was on all fours. I loved Dar limping around, holding his arm, holding his ribs, still bringing fight to Devlin while Devlin would strike him back down, harder. That would lead to nice moments like Dar taking two really nasty kicks to the chest and catching the third to turn it into an ankle lock. Devlin is great at not telegraphing spots, didn't throw that third kick any softer, just relied on Dar catching a really hard kick. The build was really good and it never felt like Dar bit off more body part selling than he could handle, and I thought Devlin was great at punishing him while Dar struggled to get to his feet. They worked in new injuries nicely, like Dar kicking the ring steps when Devlin moved, and the finishing inside cradle (after Devlin tried one and had his feet pushed off the ropes by Travis Banks) looked like a cradle that would finish a match. Come for the nasty kicks to the ribs and elbows to the jaw, and stay for the solid storytelling! Jinny vs. Mia Yim NXT UK 1/25 (Aired 2/13/19) (Ep. #29) ER: I thought this was an excellent Jinny performance, a real set of highlights that illustrates why I think she's not only easily the best women's wrestler in NXT UK, but one of the very best in WWE. Mia Yim is someone who I think is too focused on hitting her planned spots to ever really get fully into a match. And outside of some of her lousy ground and pound and a rana sequence where she stood waiting with her feet planted for the reversal before Jinny even ran out of the corner with a rana, I thought she went along for Jinny's ride really well. I liked the opening matwork, and always like the tightness Jinny brings to the mat, so things never seem perfunctory. She always seems like she knows exactly where she is in the ring, uses her long legs for leverage and rope breaks, and does cool things like rake the inside of Yim's arm with her nails while working her wrist. Jinny's form on her striking is really strong. She doesn't work stiff, but makes it look like she really putting her whole body into everything. She's good at in ring trash talking, and I got a laugh as she looked at someone in the Phoenix crowd and said "You want Mia to win, right?" and then began smashing Yim's face into the mat. Jinny makes simple things like throwing someone into the mat look like actual offense, but can also lend legitimacy to cool submissions, like her rolling wheelbarrow. She never takes half measures on those kind of moves, never afraid to abandon a spot if it isn't going as planned, never cuts corners. When she lost Yim's arm on the wheelbarrow, most workers would have had an awkward time stand still moment to wait for their opponent to give their arm back, but Jinny works it into the spot. Yim's comeback offense all looked good, her forearms and chops hit hard, her cannonball picks up speed nicely, and her German suplex into the corner is a fun bit of recklessness. The finish seems a bit too abrupt, but I liked Jinny groggily rolling to the floor to buy time after the corner suplex, leading to her sneaking in a cheap kick when Yim naturally went after her. There are not many wrestlers that I currently love watching more than Jinny.

Marcel Barthel/Fabian Aichner vs. Trent Seven/Tyler Bate NXT UK 1/13 (Aired 1/30/19) (Ep. #27) This was great, probably the best UK tag match so far. This was a more successful version of the GYF vs. Mustache tag from TakeOver, with all the fat trimmed out and nothing but action remaining. This is half the time of that tag and really hits the target. The first 2/3 of this felt like a great early 90s WCW tag, with no overly long heat sequence or too long shine. It had quick tags and constant momentum changes, making it feel more like a Brainbusters/Fantastics match, which is a great thing to see in modern wrestling. Barthel is really great at getting into position for offense, and that's important against someone like Bate who goes through a lot of "same moves in the same order" offense. The quick tags by both sides made this match feel more epic than it probably was, as I was shocked it was only a 13 minute run time (felt longer, in a good way). Aichner and Barthel control with cool suplexes and body scissors, both Bate and Seven get runs at wild hot tags (I really liked Seven running wild with a DDT, snapdragon, big lariat, and Bate going wild with a no hands running plancha to the floor), and they did a great job of ramping up the crazy. The teamwork from Barthel/Aichner is excellent, and they're smart about using Bate's actual best strength: running into painful offense. My least favorite parts of Bate matches is when everyone has to line up to take his offense in a specific order. I never like when guys selfishly derail things like that. But he has a real gift for taking some stupid bumps and crash landing his body in very unselfish ways. There was an awesome moment here when he went to do his Ray Stevens shoulder spring into the ropes, except he springs directly into a Barthel enziguiri. Bate has a way of committing to these spots that I truly admire. It always surprises me, because when he does his own offense there is always him waiting for guys to make sure they're in proper position; but when the plan is for him to intentionally miss a tope or something he just does that tope the exact same way he would have done it if someone were catching him. So he flies into that top rope and just catches Barthel's boot between the eyes, and it looked so great I was hoping it would be the finish. Bate's willingness to die at some point of a big match always makes it more annoying when he comes back with his planned comeback, but again, Barthel/Aichner are great at taking fast offense (it's not easy to plausibly take that rolling double kappo kick but GYV and these two make it look good). The finishing stretch is hot, and while I wish Barthel and Aichner would have won (Mustache Mountain is already established and I'm really not sure losses would hurt them at this point, the others have far more to gain with a win), this whole thing was great action. Mark Coffey vs. WALTER NXT UK 1/13 (Aired 2/6/19) (Ep. #28) NXT UK is great at delivering on these compact ass kicking matches that get out of there before any of the violence is deemed pointless by repetition. If two guys are beating the hell out of each other, you really only need several minutes of it, as the longer it goes the more redundant the damage becomes. WALTER debuted in ring last week, crushing Jack Starz, and I like how they sent him out the next week against someone much closer to his size. A WALTER squash is plenty fun, but seeing him trade chops and clotheslines with another big guy is much more fun. Coffey does cool things with his control, and I think a lot of his offense hit even harder than WALTER's. Coffey's chops can't come close to matching WALTER's, but his body punches sure as hell hit harder. Coffey also throws hard kicks to WALTER's back, stomps his calf to set up a chinlock, works in and out of a snug back stretch, and a truly great elbow smash to WALTER's jaw. Having a big meaty opponent gives a nice canvas for WALTER's offense, big strikes landing hard across a broad surface. He drops Coffey with a nasty backdrop on the apron, throws loud chops in the corner, hits a nasty running kick, and stretches Coffey over the top rope by jamming his boot underneath Coffey's chin. More chops, uppercuts, clubs to the chest, both guys really dealing, all of it heavy. Match ends a little simply, with a WALTER dropkick and powerbomb. It wrapped things up a little neatly, but I much prefer the match wrapped up neatly in 6 minutes than seeing 10 more minutes of chop exchanges. This is one of the harder hitting NXT UK matches we've gotten so far, here's to more!

I got through TakeOver: Blackpool, and I didn't love the show. I couldn't really dislike the show, because it was clear every single worker on the show was treating it like a big deal and busted their ass. But I also think some of the matches went on far longer than necessary and they would have been better with some editing. But hey, first big show, I get the need for title matches to go unnecessarily long. https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2020/12/nxt-uk-takeover-blackpool-11219.html And then I did my NXT UK 50 thru the first 25 episodes. I stated in my post that I don't actually know if any of the rankings are against consensus, though I assume Dunne and Mustache Mountain would be a lot higher if others did a ranking. 1. Jordan Devlin 2. Dave Mastiff 3. Wild Boar Mike Hitchman 4. Noam Dar 5. Ligero 6. Wolfgang 7. James Drake 8. Jinny 9. Mark Coffey 10. Zack Gibson 11. Tyson T-Bone 12. Toni Storm 13. Eddie Dennis 14. Rhea Ripley 15. Pete Dunne 16. Isla Dawn 17. Saxon Huxley 18. Tyler Bate 19. Joe Coffey 20. Trent Seven 21. Ashton Smith 22. Kenny Williams 23. Mark Andrews 24. Fabian Aichner 25. Dakota Kai 26. Flash Morgan Webster 27. Joseph Connors 28. Dan Moloney 29. Marcel Barthel 30. Sam Gradwell 31. Tucker 32. Nina Samuels 33. Xia Brookside 34. Finn Balor 35. Primate Jay Melrose 36. Danny Burch 37. Jamie Ahmed 38. Charlie Morgan 39. Amir Jordan 40. Travis Banks 41. Jake Constantinou 42. Josh Morrell 43. Eddie Ryan 44. Damien Weir 45. Deonna Purrazzo 46. Millie McKenzie 47. Candy Floss 48. Jack Starz 49. Sid Scala 50. Killer Kelly

Was helping my sister pack so getting a late start to TLC. But I'm excited for Sasha/Carmella, and the 8 man tag on the Kickoff was fired up fun. Doing a late blog. https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2020/12/wwe-tlc-2020-late-blog.html

I added a Gallus tag I really liked, and the first Mastiff/Eddie Dennis match (which was exactly what I wanted it to be). https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2020/12/nxt-uk-worth-watching-mastiff-gallus.html After I get through TakeOver: Blackpool I'll be doing an NXT UK 50, ranking the 50 wrestlers who appeared on the brand during the first 25 episodes. After that I'll be keeping an overall UK 50, and do a new 50 for every 25 episodes. Really the wrestler ranking is the part of this project I'm most excited about, because I have zero idea how closely my rankings will hew to consensus.

Yeah you don't typically see that level of miscommunication in a match. Butcher, Blade, and Fenix all looked like they were somewhere else entirely. Kingston clearly motioned AND yelled got B&B to get in the ring at least three times and they both just stood frozen, about to enter the ring. Fenix has looked completely wrong since that really bad match against his brother where they had to stall after he took a backdrop bump on his head. Kingston is the best in the world, but only so much you can do when that many guys in a match are that far gone.

Added 3 more matches to the Recommended Matches list. https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2020/12/nxt-uk-worth-watching-devlin-mastiff.html Jordan Devlin/Pete Dunne was one of the best matches of the brand so far. Devlin vs. Flash Morgan Webster was something different, and I'd been looking for a reason to write up a Webster match. Also, obviously Mastiff/Wild Boar was going to be worth watching. It's like Mastiff vs. a smaller Mastiff.

That main was 20 minutes too long. They kept building to something and then starting over and they did not need to do that.

I am excited for this show, think it could be really good, doing a live blog: https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2020/12/nxt-takeover-wargames-2020-live-blog.html Also, this women's WarGames is backwards in the most baffling way. Dakota Kai is clearly positioned as the top babyface for much of it and Shotzi - the person who is getting revenge, the person who is leading this team - is the biggest afterthought in the whole match. I don't get it!

That women's elimination match was bad. This PPV has been incredibly underwhelming.

Just watched the battle royal, and wished battle royals felt as well worked as they were in the early 90s. Need more guys teaching battle royal storytelling. This card could really deliver, I'm most excited for Sasha/Asuka, and I'm doing a live blog: Live Review

Aiden English was one of my favorite C show in ring workers in WWE the past few years, and I thought he was great in NXT. For two guys who looked and wrestled similarly, I really liked English and Ascension Viktor. I get why they aren't employed, but their style of work was one I was more interested than a lot of the C show regulars now. Viktor has had two indy matches since leaving WWE 18 months ago.